Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Minnesota’s Largest Health Insurer To Drop Individual Plans
More than 100,000 Minnesotans will need to look for new insurance for 2017. Blue Cross Blue Shield is pulling back from the state’s market for individual policies, citing heavy losses.
House Republicans Unveil Long-Awaited Plan To Replace Health Law
The proposal includes many details, but key questions about cost remain unanswered.
HHS Targets Young Adults In 2017 Obamacare Enrollment Plan
The Obama administration’s strategy to attract young under-insured adults includes targeted direct mailings and discounted Lyft rides to open enrollment events this fall.
Study Projects Sharper Increases In Obamacare Premiums For 2017
A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis forecasts rates could jump 10 percent next year in 14 major metro markets.
If Zika Concerns Might Derail A Trip, Consider ‘Cancel-For-Any-Reason’ Plans
Consumers planning a vacation who have worries about health issues may want to look into travel insurance that allows them to cancel the trip for any reason.
HHS Announces Plans To Curtail Consumers’ Use Of Short-Term Insurance Policies
The plans, which do not qualify as coverage under the Affordable Care Act and put consumers at risk of a tax penalty, can siphon healthy people away from the online marketplaces because they are generally less expensive.
Despite New Access To Health Insurance, Drug-Treatment Rates For Ex-Offenders Barely Changed
More emerging prisoners are covered by Medicaid, but they still face barriers in navigating the health system, researchers said.
Factors Beyond Coverage Limit Mental Health Care Access
According to a new study, the health law’s insurance expansions have helped more people gain access to mental health services. But racial and ethnic disparities continue.
UnitedHealth To Exit California’s Obamacare Market
Though United’s presence was small, its departure from the nation’s largest state underscores insurers’ ongoing dissatisfaction with Obamacare exchanges.
Virginia Insurer’s Decision To Drop Bronze Plans Prompts Concerns
But the action may not indicate a developing national trend to drop bronze coverage. Instead, analysts note that bronze and silver plans may be becoming more similar.
Majority Of Texans And Floridians Want Medicaid Expansion, Survey Shows
Residents of California, New York and Ohio approve of Medicaid expansion in those states, the survey by a Houston-based think tank found.
Final EEOC Rule Sets Limits For Financial Incentives On Wellness Programs
The federal agency says the wellness programs can get health details about workers and their spouses as long as the financial rewards or penalties do not exceed 30 percent of the cost for an individual in the company’s group health plan.
Insurers Quitting Health Law Exchanges May Still Sell Plans To Individuals
KHN’s consumer columnist answers readers’ questions including whether recent announcements about plans pulling out of the health law’s exchanges could affect the access to coverage for consumers who don’t use those exchanges.
Supreme Court Sends Health Law Birth Control Case Back To Lower Courts
Justices give lower courts more instructions for trying to get all parties to reach an accommodation.
Health Coverage Rates For Lower Income Children Improving
Although Medicaid and CHIP were already helping many children get insurance, the implementation of the health law has improved coverage.
Obamacare Premiums In California May Rise 8 Percent Next Year, State Predicts
The projected increase in premiums is expected to draw national attention in an election year — especially from foes of the Affordable Care Act.
Smokers’ Ranks Look Conspicuously Sparse In Obamacare
Federal data suggest that many smokers aren’t confessing to their tobacco habit to avoid paying higher health care premiums, thwarting insurers.
Democrats Increasingly Want Expansion Of Health Law, Poll Finds
A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds a majority of Democrats think the law doesn’t go far enough.
Will Covered California Sell Health Coverage To The Undocumented?
California is inching closer to a first-in-the-nation request for a federal ruling that would allow the state’s Obamacare exchange to sell health plans to immigrants who are living in the country illegally.
United’s Departure From Marketplaces Could Impact Consumers’ Costs, Access
Florida and Oklahoma counties are among the hardest hit by UnitedHealthcare’s pullout from health law exchanges.
